View full sizeTom Buckel posted this photo on his Facebook page hours after he and four others helped pull Timothy Neild, 33, of Duanesburg, from this pickup truck that crashed Monday morning on the New York State Thruway near exit 34A in the town of DeWitt. Photo by Tom Buckel

DeWitt, NY -- The man pulled from a pickup truck before it burst into flames Monday on the Thruway in DeWitt suffered two broken legs and internal injuries, state police said.

Timothy Neild, 33, of Duanesburg in Schenectady County, was driving a 2009 Chevrolet pickup truck westbound on the New York State Thruway at 8:23 a.m. when he drifted off the left side of the road, state police Sgt. Derrick Harris said. Neild's pickup truck went between two guardrails and struck a concrete pillar on a bridge that supports the overpass at mile marker 277.1 near the Route 481 exit (exit 34A) in the town of DeWitt, Harris said. The accident happened between exits 34A and 35.

Other drivers stopped to help and pulled Neild from his pickup truck, police and firefighters said.

Tom Buckel, a local attorney and former Onondaga County legislator, posted on his Facebook page Monday night that he was the first to arrive at the scene of the crash. Buckel said several others also stopped, including another Syracuse attorney, Kevin Harrigan.

"It took five of us to pry open the door as flames engulfed the unconscious soldier in the drivers seat," Buckel wrote. "30 seconds after we got him out the truck exploded."

Firefighters arrived shortly after the bystanders saved Neild from the burning pickup truck.

"Love Love Love the guys who stopped and helped save this dude," Buckel wrote in his public Facebook post. "Humanity at its best. Prayers, please, for the victim, his family, for the member of his unit who also helped save his captain, and all the soldiers he leads. NYS thruway, rt 481 bridge."

EAVES Ambulance took Neild to Upstate University Hospital, where he is being treated for serious injuries, police and firefighters said.